With Pullout Over, Israel Hails Barak as Hero--for Now

“Ehud Barak,” the newspaper ads say. “You promised. You delivered.”

By pulling his troops out of Lebanon and ending a nightmarish occupation, Israel’s prime minister has fulfilled the pledge that anchored his election campaign and swept him to a landslide victory last year.

And at least for now, Israelis approve overwhelmingly.

The same commentators and columnists who were writing Barak’s political obituary a week ago are lavishing praise on the highly decorated former army commander. Criticized for inaction in crises ranging from peace with the Palestinians to high unemployment, Barak now is being hailed as a courageous leader who dared to gamble on a withdrawal that might have been disastrous.

The relative peace on Israel’s northern border, where crowds of Islamic militants have gathered on the Lebanese side to hector any Israeli they might see, may not last. But none of the predictions of wider conflagration have yet come true. Barak can bask in the moment.

“One cannot take away from Barak the fateful moment when he assumed responsibility and made a decision,” commentator Hemi Shalev wrote in Friday editions of the Maariv newspaper.

“The end result may not yet have been tested, but he has already passed the test of courage. . . . Barak has made his mark on history, alone, with no outside help. From this point on, he is a prime minister in a completely different league, for better and, perhaps, for worse.”

One front-page editorial compared Barak to a field surgeon who performs a delicate operation under fire and saves a life. Another banner headline saluted his “strong, swift, elegant” command of the Israeli exodus from southern Lebanon after a 22-year occupation.

Israelis can be fickle, however, where their political masters are concerned, and Barak undoubtedly will be dragged back into the squabbles and political deal-making that seem to characterize the governing process here. This time next week he could be facing a no-confidence vote or struggling to keep his fractious coalition government together. He also faces a tough showdown with Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat over terms of a final peace treaty.

Barak executed the withdrawal six weeks ahead of the deadline he had set. According to historian Tom Segev, Barak was the first Israeli leader to win office by promising to surrender territory; traditionally, politicians swear that they won’t give up land, even though many eventually do. Barak’s military credentials helped him pull it off, Segev said.

“It appears that only a former chief of staff, and not someone like Yossi Beilin [the dovish justice minister], could spearhead such a process,” Segev wrote in Friday’s Haaretz newspaper.

Barak is familiar with Lebanon, for reasons that in some cases remain state secrets. One of his most storied escapades involves sneaking into Beirut dressed as a woman on a commando mission to assassinate three leaders of the Palestine Liberation Organization. The 1973 operation was successful.

In two polls released as this tumultuous and historic week ends, more than 70% of Israelis surveyed approved of the withdrawal from Lebanon as conducted by Barak.

His political opposition has had to remain relatively quiet. Ariel Sharon, head of the largest opposition bloc, the right-wing Likud Party, criticized Barak for allowing the withdrawal to turn chaotic and for failing to adequately protect the communities along Israel’s northern border.

“I am afraid we will pay for this in the future,” he said. Sharon, as defense minister in 1982, was largely responsible for getting Israel mired in Lebanon.